Land Reforms [IMP]

Lack of land records digitization has led to farmers unable to access banks for credit. Due to these, they have to borrow money from local money lenders at very high rates.

Also, farmers don’t register their land which leads to ownership title problems in land acqusition by government.

Why farmers don’t get land registered:

Due to high stamp duties. They are as high as 14.5% in UP and 6-7% in Maharashtra .

Telangana has launched an initiative where farmers whose lands are not registered can do so within a 3 week window. They can even produce their informal purchase agreements known as “sada bainama” to register the land.

Digital land records could be integrated with Aadhar and Jan Dhan as well. For this, Land Identification Numbers (LIN) should be introduced.

This even helps in tagging LIN with the nearest weather station. If there is bad weather forecast, the weather station could use LIN to intimate farmers by SMS or electronic message thereby warning them beforehand.

Similarly, any farm insurance could be paid directly on basis of LIN.

Crop loans could be processed.

Land tenancy could also be handled with LIN and targeting agricultural subsidies.